Research scholars at the Indian Institutes of Technology and all other central science and engineering schools will soon receive a massive hike of up to 33 per cent in the monthly stipend they receive. The human resource development (HRD) ministry has communicated the decision to all central institutions including the IITs.

… Apart from the IITs, students and research scholars at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs), the National Institutes of Technology (NITs), and the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) will also benefit.

The HRD ministry letter to the Directors of these institutions also says the "revision in rate will be applicable to other government and government aided institutions funded by the All India Council for Technical Education and University Grants Commission."

Students who graduate from the undergraduate B.Tech programme at the IITs with a Cumulative Grade Point Average of over 8, and those who clear the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering will now receive R16,000 a month during their PG research. They receive R12,000 a month at present.

PG degree holders in the basic sciences and students who have qualified in the National Eligibility Test will get R18,000 a month till their fifth year of PhD research. Students who hold PG degrees in engineering will receive R18,000 a month during the first two years of research and R20,000 a month during the next two years.

Under the Future Faculty Programme, PHFI is pleased to announce the following fellowships

WELLCOME TRUST PROGRAMME (2009-2014)

In 2009, PHFI, along with a consortium of 14 British Universities, was awarded a £ 5 million (pounds) capacity building grant for faculty development. This ambitious 5 year programme aims to develop the teaching and research skills of PHFI’s faculty members by supporting their growth at various career stages. This programme includes opportunities for graduate and doctoral studies, collaborative research projects and research fellowships, and faculty exchanges.

BHARTI FOUNDATION, the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises was established in 2000 with a vision "To help underprivileged children and young people of our country realize their potential". BHARTI FOUNDATION, is an organization established under the Laws of India with charitable status pursuant to a "Deed of Trust".

One of their flagship program is the Satya Bharti School program. Following is from their home page.

The Satya Bharti School Program is the flagship program of Bharti Foundation. With a goal to establish 500 Primary and 50 Senior Secondary Schools, this program, aims to create a replicable, scalable and holistic model of quality education in rural India

Harpreet is one of the 30,000 students who are now studying in Mittal’s free English-medium schools in Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. This is likely to increase to 50,000 in two years. The plan is to eventually build 500 primary schools and 50 secondary schools which will enroll 100,000 students by 2013.

Not only is this one of the largest such direct interventions by a business house, but Mittal also claims this is one of the largest affirmative action initiatives in the country.

“More than 21,000 of the 30,000 or 70% of the students in these schools are from SC/ST and OBC categories. The ratio is the same among the 1,100 teachers now on the foundation’s rolls,” says Mittal. “We have not gone looking for SC/ST students, but we have gone into catchments that are very poor. And, by this very design, we have got them,” Mr Mittal adds. Moreover, 47% of the students are girls.

… Most of them have been set up as an alternative to poorly-run government schools. There is a world of difference between the two. Kirthi Sharma, a head teacher of one of the foundation’s schools near Ludhiana, points out that simple things like clean drinking water, working infrastructure, clean toilets were some of the things that the 191 students in the school cherished. A replacement teacher is also sent from a nearby school or from the foundation if a teacher goes on leave, ensuring that all classes are always staffed.

Each of these schools is built according to a blueprint drawn up by Delhi-based architect Navneeth Malhotra. The Foundation invited several architects to make a pitch for the project and were given a Rs 20 lakh cost cap for a school building. Finally, Sunil and brother Rakesh Mittal handpicked Malhotra.

Each school is located in half an acre of land and has five classrooms (for standard 1-5) and a staff room. Other facilities include toilets, a vegetable garden and a playground. Every school also has an internet connection. “We send weekly updates on attendance, books, and uniforms to Delhi on email. We also download teaching manuals, instructions and sometimes even additions to the menu amongst other things,” says Anamika Kappor, head teacher in a school in Ludhiana district Punjab. The schools run on two shifts and have between 5-7 teachers whose salaries start at about Rs 4,500. The head teacher is paid about Rs 7,000. On an average, the foundation spends about Rs 12 lakh per annum to run each school.

The Bharti group’s managerial skills are quite evident in the way these schools are run. Like every group company, the Bharti Foundation has a CEO in Vijay Chadda. He quit the army in 1992, held a string of high-profile corporate jobs, including that of CEO of Carlson Wagonlit Travel and Kuoni Travel, before he took a pay cut to join the foundation in 2008.

… He has a team of 1600 employees; 1100 are teachers, while the rest are involved in logistics, training, curriculum design, and other support roles. Three state-heads oversee the functioning of about 90 schools each, and report to the headquarters in Delhi.

The centralised training wing and a team of 10 trainers prepare the curriculum and coach the teachers. Training is a 365-days-a-year operation. “There are subject specific modules happening all the time — for instance, the maths or science teachers of all schools in that district will be called to a centralised location and taught new tools and skill sets,” explains Mr Chadda.

… Though it has 236 primary schools, the Bharti Foundation is planning to set up only 25 secondary schools, that too over the next 3 years. Mittal’s plan is to have each of these 25 secondary schools absorb all the students passing out from 10 primary schools in the vicinity. He chose this hub-and-spoke model for various reasons.

Foundation executives say it is impossible to upgrade all primary schools to secondary schools. “The latter would require labs for subjects like Physics and Chemistry and teachers for such specialised areas,” Mr Chadda said. Funding the infrastructure and finding the teachers for 236 such secondary schools would be a challenge. That’s why it settled for one secondary school as a hub for students coming out of 10 primary schools.

… The Rajasthan government is undertaking joint surveys with the foundation to convert many of the existing schools to senior secondary schools. The World Bank has also shown interest, Mr Chadda added. There are other problems too like 20% attrition amongst teachers. The foundation pays only a third of the salaries when compared to a government school. “Many teachers use this as a platform to get experience before moving on,” he says. “We pay higher than other private schools in the locality, but being a charitable organisation, we cannot match government salaries,” he adds. He believes attrition will come down once the secondary schools become operational. “Primary school teachers can be promoted — this will be an incentive,” he said.

… That was when Mr Mittal decided to do it himself. He started the Bharti Foundation in 2000 with a corpus of Rs 200 crore. The dream for 500 schools that would educate 100,000 poor children was taking shape in his mind.

… Soon, the Rajasthan government offered 49 schools in the Neemrana and Ajmer blocks for adoption. It moved existing teachers to other schools and gave the foundation a clean slate. The foundation then invested Rs 5 lakh to renovate each school and hired new teachers. It was a brave move considering the political ramifications of handing over state-owned and run schools to corporates. But, like his businesses, Mittal wanted to scale up fast here too.

The Bharti Scholarship and Mentorship Program was instituted in the year 2006-07 to enable academically bright youth from financially weak families to complete their higher education. Currently the program supports 232 scholars across the country and covers courses in management, engineering and agriculture.

… Mentorship is an integral component of the Bharti Scholarship Program. Involving senior executives from the Bharti Group of Companies, the Mentorship Program looks at providing each scholar with a mentor who can help make the right career choices, provide them with relevant exposure and guide them in decisions which will shape their future. Today, 105 senior executives from Bharti Group of Companies are involved in the mentoring program.

Genesis of INSPIRE: Global competitiveness in the changing global knowledge economy calls for expansion and right-sizing of the Research and Development base of the country. Need for
special interventions for attracting youth to study of natural sciences and careers with research is recognized. Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) is a Programme launched by the Government of India to strengthen the National Science and Technology base. It is being implemented by the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

About INSPIRE: Programme includes three components namely Scheme for Early Attraction of
Talents for Science (SEATS), Scholarships for Higher Education (SHE) and Assured Opportunity for Research Careers (AORC). The Scheme SHE is focused on attraction of talent to study of natural/basic sciences at the bachelor and master’s level education. SHE is currently limited to support for educational programmes at B.Sc., B.Sc. (Hons), M.Sc. and integrated master’s level course in sciences leading to MSc in any branch of natural and basic sciences namely mathematics, statistics, physics, chemistry, earth sciences and life sciences.

Call for Applications: Applications are invited from eligible candidates for `Scholarship for
Higher Education (SHE)’ component of INSPIRE. Total of 10,000 scholarships are available
annually under SHE starting April 2008. The scholarships are limited only to the candidates
studying courses in natural/basic sciences (B.Sc., B.Sc. (Hons), integrated M.Sc.) in any one of the recognized institutions in India. Eligibility criterion for the scholarships are a) performance in
board examinations within the cutoff threshold (of top 1%) for each state or central board
examination at the class X and class XII level and/or b) performance in any of the specified
competitive examinations within stipulated cut off ranks. The eligible applicant must be already
enrolled into degree level education in natural/basic sciences in any of the recognized institutions
in India.

Criteria for Eligibility for SHE:

a) Based on Performance in Board Examinations: The candidates should have obtained
aggregate marks in the top 1% in the board examination at both class X and XII levels. For
example, the candidates applying for INSPIRE Scholarship 2008 should have secured marks
within the top 1% in class X in the year 2006 and class XII in 2008 in the respective board
examinations and should have joined a degree course leading to B.Sc. or B.Sc. (Hons) or
integrated M.Sc. in natural/basic sciences in any institution in India. Cut-off marks for various
board examinations conducted in the years 2006 and 2007 for class X and corresponding year
of 2008 and 2009 for class XII are listed in Table 1. The cut-off marks of various Board
Examinations conducted in the years 2008 for Class X and 2010 for Class XII are being compiled and shall be up-loaded in Website in due course. Candidate securing top 1% marks only in class XII board examination can also submit the application form.

b) Based on Performance in Competitive Examinations (specified in Table 2).: Performance
within the top 10,000 ranks in Joint Entrance Examination of IIT, AIEEE (Engineering) and CBSE medical and joining degree level courses in natural/basic sciences in any recognized Indian
institution. The candidate may apply with a valid document of these examinations. The scheme in its current format does not include courses in engineering, medicine, technology and other
professional courses.

c) Based on Performance in Competitive Examinations (specified in Table 3): Clearance of
competitive examinations conducted by institutions listed in Table 3 and all candidates securing
admissions and joining integrated M.Sc/ MS courses in natural/basic sciences conduced by Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER), National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), in Indian Institutes of Technology, Department of Atomic Energy – Centre for Basic Science (DAE-CBS) and University from the academic years 2008-09, 2009-10 ad 2010-11 are eligible. Institutional coverage is being done for this category. Students in this category need not to apply.

Value and Type of Support: Eligible candidates will receive annually scholarship @ total value
Rs.80,000 per candidate. The cash value payable to the SHE scholarship holder is Rs.60,000 per annum. All the SHE scholars are undertake summer time attachment to an active researcher in recognized research centers in the country. A summer time attachment fee of Rs.20,000 will be paid to the mentoring institution for undertaking summer time project.

Duration of the Support: Selected candidates will be supported for a maximum period of five
years starting 1st year course in B.Sc., B.Sc. (Hons) and integrated course leading to M.S. or M.Sc. or the completion of the course, which ever is earlier. Continuation of the scholarship for once selected candidates is based on satisfactory performance of the examinations conducted and certified by the institution imparting education.

Format for Application: All interested and eligible candidates (as per Table 1 for Board
examination based eligibility or as per Table 2 or Table 3 for competitive examination based
eligibility) must apply in the prescribed format written preferable in English & Hindi only along
with attested copy of i) Mark sheets of Class X and Class XII and ii) Endorsement Certificate from Principal of the College/ Director or Registrar of the Institute or University where the applicant is presently enrolled. Candidate may please download this Advertisement and Application Format which is available at the website: www. inspire-dst.gov.in and submit the duly filled-in application with all necessary documents. Applications should be sent by Ordinary Post only within one month from the date of this advertisement in Newspaper and shall be addressed to the Director, National Institute of Science, Technology & Development Studies (NISTADS), Dr K S Krishnan Marg , New Delhi – 110012. The envelope should mention on top “Application for INSPIRE Scholarship – 2008, 2009 and 2010” program. For online submission of application, kindly also visit the Website: www.inspire-dst.gov.in. The online applicants should also submit a hardcopy of the applications with all attested documents.

The North South Foundation provides scholarships to needy children who display academic excellence in India. The Foundation has distributed more than 2,000 scholarships to students who need financial support to pursue their quest for knowledge in engineering, medicine, polytechinc, science and other fields.

The scholarship is an annual award and not a one-time payment. The student is eligible for the scholarship until graduation as long as the high academic standards are maintained. The Foundation funds these scholarships by raising donations in the US. The local chapters located in various states in India do the commendable job of advertising to invite applications from students, screening these applications and selecting the most needy group of students who eventually become NSF scholarship recipients.

Currently there are nine chapters in the following cities: Bangalore, Bhavnagar, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jodhpur, Kolkata and Pune.

The "Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana" (KVPY) is a program started during 1999 by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India to encourage students of Basic Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to take up research careers in these areas. The aim of the program is to identify and encourage talented students with aptitude for research.

This program strives to assist the students to realises their potential and to ensure that the best scientific talent is developed for research and growth in the country. Generous scholarship and contingency grant is provided (up to the Pre-Ph.D. level) to the selected students.

In addition, summer programs for the KVPY Fellows are organised in prestigious research and educational institutions in the country.

The KVPY is funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. The program is administered by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc, Bangalore), through the overall control of the Chief Executive (SID). The selection of students from those who are studying +1, +2, any U.G. Program including First/Second year Engineering/Medicine are carried out by IISc (Bangalore), IIT-Bombay (Mumbai), and ICMR (New Delhi), respectively, in association with two Zonal Centres one at Kolkata (Indian Institute of Science Education Research, Kolkata) and another at Mumbai (HBCSE, TIFR). There are special groups or committees set up at IISc, IIT and ICMR which screen the applications, conduct interviews at various centres, make the final selection and attend to follow-up matters.

The Department of Science and Technology – the nodal agency of the Government has entrusted the overall responsibility for organising the scheme to the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and set up a National Advisory Committee (NAC) for overseeing its implementation. A Basic Committee and a National Scientific Committee has been set up to monitor various aspects, both administrative and academic, of the KVPY Program.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Request for Application Form

a.Each Stream has its own application form. Students who wish to apply for more than one Stream should submit separate applications.

b. Applicants may apply either by Hard copy or Online. (http://www.iisc.ernet.in/kvpy).

c. Application forms may be down loaded from the KVPY website. Those who are unable to do so, may request for a Hard Copy.

d. Hard copy of the application form can be obtained from KVPY on request by sending a processing fee of Rs. 200/- (Rs. 100/- for SC/ST) by means of remitting Rs. 200 (Rs. 100/- for SC/ST) “to any core banking branches of STATE BANK OF INDIA, payable at all branches in India. Paid into the credit of Administrative Executive, KVPY A/c. No.10270577392” and send the “pay-in-slip” along with the request, clearly indicating the stream (i.e.SA, SB, SP etc.) on the envelope

e. The SC/ST – candidates should provide a copy of the caste certificate issued by a competent authority in the prescribed proforma.